BUS ROUTES ARE ROLLING AGAIN

Service Returns, Some Lines Extended By MTA

by Robert Pozarycki

Some of the bus service reductions which were implementedthrough the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA)“doomsday cuts” of June 2010 were officially ended as ofMonday, Jan. 7, as MTA New York City Transit reinstatedextended service on certain truncated routes.

Weekend service has returned to the B24 bus line, which runs between Greenpoint and Williamsburg and loops its way through Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside. When the “doomsday cuts” were initiated, service was curtailed to run only on weekdays.

The Q24 bus line, which operates through Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park along Atlantic Avenue, also had its western terminus reverted back to the Bushwick/Bedford Stuyvesant border at the corner of Broadway and Lafayette/Patchen avenues. The line had previously ended at the Broadway Junction train station.

Also brought back off the bench by the MTA was the B39 bus route, which runs across the Williamsburg Bridge between Williamsburg Plaza and the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

The short bus route had been eliminated entirely back in June 2010.

In addition to restoring reduced or eliminated services, the MTA also expanded routes in certain areas. One of the affected lines is the B57, which originates in Maspeth and runs through Ridgewood along Flushing Avenue. The route’s western terminus was relocated from Carroll Gardens to the IKEA furniture store in Red Hook.

These changes were part of $17.8 million in service investments made by the authority and enacted as of Monday.

“We are here to provide mass transit service, and that we are able to restore some earlier service cuts while at the same time extending service along several routes is great news for us to share,” said New York City Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast. “These enhancements were all a result of listening to our customers and keeping close watch on changing travel needs.”

The MTA noted that it is also planning on introducing a number of new bus services across the city later this year, including a brand new route connecting Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Long Island City, as well as introducing “select bus service” on the M60, which runs through Astoria to and from LaGuardia Airport.

(Editor’s Note: For more information on the Greenpoint/Williamsburg/ Long Island City bus route, see the story on Page 3.)